This post is an enthusiastic plug for a series of books written over 20 years ago. I know that it’s difficult to find them so if you have read this blog and you ever see them in a store, you should pick them up. The books are the Japan Travel Bureau’s Illustrated Look into Japan series, and they are definitely the best books I’ve ever seen about what Japan is really like.
They’re pocket sized, written in English of course, and are aimed at both tourists and residents like me. I found four from the series in a used bookstore for 100 yen each. They’re like small cultural picture-dictionaries. Each book is divided into sections, and every page is full of information and lots of really clear, fun illustrations. You can read about different types of roofs and roof tiles in traditional architecture, descriptions of all the statues in Buddhist temples, how college students hunt for company jobs, and what to do at the local public bath. Really, there is SO much great stuff in here. I’m surprised that no one (that I know about) has since compiled a comparably thorough and enjoyable resource as any one of these books.
Here are some sample pages:
And here are the other three covers, with a quote from each:
Cafés in Japan are used for meeting friends, passing the time, or conducting business. A cup of tea or coffee may seem expensive, but you can stay in the café as long as you like and will not be pressured to leave or order more when you have finished.
Service in cafés is usually very good. You will be given a glass of water and sometimes a ‘oshibori’ (wet towel) when you enter. A small clipboard with your bill attached will be placed on your table, and you pay at the desk whenyou leave. No tips are needed.
Most cafés only offer single cups of tea or coffee; a pot of tea or a ‘bottomless cup’ of coffee is hard to find. However, many cafés offer a bargain breakfast, called ‘monningu sabbisu’ consisting of coffee or tea, a boiled egg, toast and butter, and sometimes a small salad.
[The efficiency of Japanese business] is sustained by the devotion of the people working together to thet group, to the company, to the Japanese society. They become the cogs of the company machinery or, the members of one big family, the enterprise.
These characteristics are at the antipodes of business, French-style, where lack of discipline and antagonisms between individuals as well as the conflict of interests between the employee and company are handicaps but are also the consequence of the individualistic, contentious spirit of the French that includes more creativity. In Japan, business problems are mainly due to the social principles of “no disturbance” and “team spirit” that lead to little constructive communication and expression of individual ideas, and eventually to a lack of dynamic… The main point to be aware of is how much a part of a country’s culture business can be.
The gates of shrines are guarded by pairs of stone dogs called koma-inu. These dogs usually face each other, one with its mouth open and one with its mouth closed.
The one with its mouth open breathing in and is called A, while the one with its mouth closed is breathing out and is called Un. The prhase a-un-no-kokyuu, or “a-un breathing”, describes a relationship between people so close that they can communicate without words.